DEFORESTATION OF BRAZIL'S BIOMES BETWEEN 2002 AND 2009 MAINLY DUE TO DEMAND OF PRODUCTS

Brazil's internal consumption and exports of soybeans, beef and other primary products from the Amazon are responsible for more than half of the deforestation rates and, consequently, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) registered by that biome.

The evaluation is a study conducted by researchers at the Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting (FEA) of the University of São Paulo (USP), as part of a thematic project of FAPESP ("Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa") Program in research on global climate change ("PFPMCG").

"More than half of GHG emissions from Amazon happen on the consumer demand outside the region, for internal supply of the country or for export," said Joaquim José Martins Guilhoto, professor of FEA and one of the researchers participating in the project.

In order to investigate the main vectors of deforestation in the country, since most agricultural expansion event occurs outside of the Amazon, the researchers did a study using integrated spatial analysis of the Brazilian territory, including the six biomes of the country.

For this, they used data on deforestation obtained from "Prodes" project, the Ministry of Environment (MMA) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), and geo-referenced Landsat satellites  images, obtained from the American space agency Nasa.

The study revealed that, during the period from 2002 to 2009, 

the deforested areas in all six biomes were [hectare divided by 100 = square kilometers]:

Amazon:  12.062 million hectwere deforested in the Amazon;

Cerrado:  10.015 million hectares;

Caatinga:  1.846 million hectares;

Pantanal:  447 thousand hectare;

Atlantic forest:  375 thousand hectares;

Pampa (southern Brazil):  257 thousand hectares.

The calculations showed that direct exports from the Amazon account for 16.98% of GHG emissions  in Amazonian (northern) region. The exportation for the rest of the country are responsible for emissions of 6.29% of the Amazon emission, since there are products from the region that are processed and exported by other Brazilian States.

"The sum of these numbers indicates that in Brazil in seven years, it was devastated the equivalent of the state of São Paulo plus the  "Triângulo Mineiro" (central region in the state of Minas Gerais) or a Great Britain", estimated Rafael Feltran-Barbieri, a researcher at FEA and one of the authors of the study.

EVIDENCES OF CONNECTION: HUMAN ACTIONS AND EXTREME CLIMATE CHANGE

[Reproduced from http://insights.wri.org/news/2013/09/new-report-connects-2012-extreme-weather-events-human-caused-climate-change]

New Report Connects 2012 Extreme Weather Events To Human-Caused Climate Change

Submitted by C. Forbes Tompkins and James Bradbury on September 6, 2013

Flooding from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Photo credit: Pamela Andrade 

In a report published yesterday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the UK’s Met Office, and other institutions examine the extent to which manmade climate change influenced 12 extreme weather events that occurred in 2012. The conclusions of yesterday’s report are similar to those of a related, first-of-its-kind study published last year that focused on extreme weather events in 2011.

Three big takeaways reveal troubling insights into how climate change is impacting weather – and what dangers a warmer future may hold:

1) New methods and better data enable scientists to connect the dots between extreme weather and climate change.

It is remarkable and worrisome that human influences are already having a discernible impact on individual extreme weather events. Because of the random nature of weather, it had been assumed until recently that no single event can be attributed to climate change. However, with new research methods and better quality data, scientists are increasingly able to connect the dots between extreme weather events and climate change. For example, one can quantify the odds of a typical heat wave happening and estimate how much a warmer world would load the dice toward the more frequent occurrence of a similar event. Or, to understand the causes of melting sea-ice or severe drought, researchers can now use sophisticated climate models to help identify – and potentially isolate – various factors that could individually contribute or dynamically interact to influence climate conditions in a particular region.

2) Human influence was detected in several extreme weather events in 2012.

The Arctic sea ice extent reached an observed all-time record low in 2012, mostly due to warmer atmospheric and oceanic temperatures melting the younger, thinner ice. The report determined that natural climate variability alone is “extremely unlikely” for explaining this observed magnitude of melting. The report cites research (Overland and Wang 2013) showing that an extrapolation of recent trends would cause further decline in the extent of summer Arctic sea ice, with the region expected to become largely ice-free during summer months in the coming decades.

Extreme rainfall inundated communities in southeastern Australia in March 2012. While there is still uncertainty on the impact of human-induced warming on extreme precipitation events, the report shows that the likelihood of above-average precipitation over the longer term was determined to have increased due to manmade climate change.

Scientists also studied the impacts of climate change on extreme weather in the United States. For the north-central and northeastern region of the country, the heat wave that resulted in July 2012 being the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States was found to be four times more likely to occur today–as a result of human-induced climate change–than in pre-industrial times. Additionally, due to sea-level rise, extreme flooding along the mid-Atlantic coast on the scale of Hurricane Sandy’s impact is more than 30 percent more likely to occur today than it would have been roughly half a century ago. Furthermore, if sea levels at Sandy Hook, NJ were to rise by another 1.2 meters, (a scenario projected by the 2013 National Climate Assessment), the flooding level caused by Hurricane Sandy could be expected roughly once every 20 years by the end of the century.

3) Not every extreme event can be measurably attributed to climate change.

The report included several studies of 12 extreme weather and climate events, finding that half of these were unlikely to have been significantly influenced by human-induced climate change. For example, while the U.S. drought of 2012 was exacerbated by accompanying record high temperatures throughout much of the year, researchers did not find a clearly detectable human influence on this historic event. Researchers in this report found that the majority of the 2012 drought was likely attributable to natural variability. Other studies have concluded that regional aspects of the drought–like in the Central Great Plains–were likely the result of a temporary northern shift in weather systems and infrequent thunderstorms, which typically occur in July and August.

As authors of the report point out, just as speeding increases the chance of having a car accident, climate change intensifies the risk of heat waves, droughts, and heavy precipitation. On the other hand, climate change does not always strongly influence every extreme weather event, just as speeding does not cause every car accident–but they can both be significant contributors.

What Does the Future Hold?

In addition to the research findings in this special report, a much broader and growing body of scientific research has shown that several types of extreme events are becoming more frequent and severe. For heat waves, heavy precipitation, and coastal flooding, studies show that upward trends are likely caused by human-induced global climate change. Further temperature rise is expected to make matters worse, also bringing more frequent drought, flooding, and more severe tropical storm intensities.

Countries are already experiencing the disastrous impacts of extreme weather events on their communities, their infrastructure, and their economies. The United States alone has experienced 25 extreme weather events since 2011 that each caused more than $1 billion dollars in damages, contributing to the loss of more than 1,000 lives and costing each American family roughly $400 each year. As research shows, the world is likely in for more extreme weather if it stays on its current course. As the costs of climate inaction become clearer, the urgency for shifting toward a low-carbon economy becomes ever-more pressing.

- See more at: http://insights.wri.org/news/2013/09/new-report-connects-2012-extreme-weather-events-human-caused-climate-change#sthash.9vfmHqKH.dpuf

"URUBU MOBILE": AN APP FOR SMARTPHONES FOR TRAVELLERS ON BRAZILIAN ROADS TO SAVE ANIMALS

[Reproduced from www.oeco.org.br]

The researcher who wants to save animals 

Photos: Alex Bager/Every year more than 400 millions of animals are killed on Brazil's highways. To arrive at the estimate of 450 million animals killed annually in Brazil, Alex Bager (teacher and researcher at Lavras University, state of Minas Gerais) was based on published scientific articles with data from different Brazilian biomes. On the basis of the rates reported in articles an average rate was esrablished for the Brazilian territory and extrapolated for the entire network of 1.7 million kilometers. It was created by several universities in Brazil, the REB - Road Ecology Brazil. Annual meeting has been held  since 2010. Next one will be in the city of Lavras in 27-29 January 2014. "Urubu"  is the name of our most popular vulture (the black one). The app.  The idea is simple and at the same time fantastic!  Anyone who has a smartphone or tablet can download the Urubu Mobile and collaborate with the collection of data on roadkill. When someone finds a dead animal on the roadside, the person opens the application, photographs it and the image is automatically georeferenced and, when  a wireless network signal is found, the photo is sent to the Urubu Mobile system. Once in the system, a specialized team identifies the picture and gets the record of the species. When the data is stored in the system, with the exact location, this prevents that repeated pics be computed as individuals differ and so would overestimate their data. "The idea is that any person may download the application and use it: truck drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, people who often travel on the roads of the country in general. In a world increasingly connected in social networks, is being established the largest collaborative network of monitoring of fauna that Brazil already witnessed",  says Alex Bager. "We know very little about the road kill of fauna in the country, so whatever comes is profit. If we increase the volume of data in 10% now, we'll take a huge leap", says Alex. With the improvement of the data will be easier to propose measures that reduce the stratospheric number of roadkill annually in Brazil.

PALM OIL PLANTATION IN EXPANSION AND FORESTS AND ANIMALS PAY FOR IT!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_29M4NnJw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

About Palm Oil [Reproduced from   http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/palm-oil.php] Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil derived from the palm fruit,  grown on the African oil palm tree. Oil palms are originally from  Western Africa, but can flourish wherever heat and rainfall are  abundant. Today, almost all palm oil is produced in, and  exported from, Indonesia and Malaysia; but most of the time  not using sustainable measures.  Vast areas of pristine rainforest is slashed and burned each  year in order to make way for oil palm plantations. Many  orangutans and other wildlife are killed in the process, so that  this one vegetable oil can be used in many of our everyday  foods and products. This large-scale deforestation is pushing  orangutans to extinction, along with many other native  species of Borneo and Sumatra. [Watch the video above, from Greenpeace] Palm oil is an extremely popular vegetable oil amongst  manufacturers. It is used in over 50% of products, including:  baked goods, confectionery, cosmetics, body products and  cleaning agents. But in many countries, there is no law on the  mandatory labelling of palm oil. Consequently, companies will  usually hide palm oil under the name of 'vegetable oil', or over  170 other names! (See the list of the most common 30 names  below). This is little Jessie, a victim of the illegal pet/zoo trade in South-East Asia.  Photo credit: TRAFFIC Southeast Asia This is little Jessie, a victim of the illegal pet/zoo trade in South-East Asia.  Photo credit: TRAFFIC Southeast Asia 30 NAMES PALM OIL CAN BE LABELLED UNDER Foods, Body Products, Cosmetics & Cleaning Agents: -Vegetable Oil-Vegetable Fat -Sodium Laureth Sulfate (in almost everything that foams) ^-Sodium Lauryl Sulfate ^-Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS) ^ -Palm Kernel# -Palm Oil Kernel # -Palm Fruit Oil # -Palmate # -Palmitate # -Palmolein #-Glyceryl Stearate #-Stearic Acid #-Elaeis Guineensis #-Palmitic Acid #-Palm Stearine # -Palmitoyl oxostearamide # -Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3 #-Steareth -2 *-Steareth -20 * -Sodium Kernelate # -Sodium Palm Kernelate #-Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate *-Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate ^-Hyrated Palm Glycerides #-Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylaye ^ -Cetyl Palmitate #-Octyl Palmitate #-Cetyl Alcohol ^-Palmityl Alchohol #                # These ingredients are definitely palm oil or derived from palm oil. * These ingredients are often derived from palm oil, but could be derived from other vegetable oils. ^ These ingredients are either derived from palm oil or coconut oil.

THE CERRADO, IN BRAZIL, ALSO HAS ITS "11 SEPTEMBER"

[Reproduced from  http://www.oeco.org.br/geonoticias/26434-o-cerrado-fez-aniversario-mas-nao-ha-razao-para-festa]
Gustavo Faleiros and Eduardo Pegurier 

The fires that destroy the Cerrado in shocking numbers "Focos de calor"=spots of heat "Queimadas"=burned (areas)

Reminder: the Cerrado biome is home to

one of the greatest biodiversities

in the world and originate

eight river basins!!

This week, on 11, was celebrated the national day of the Cerrado. It's good that the date exists, because maybe some day we can celebrate it. At the moment, focus on the Cerrado is just a way to get attention for their tragedies.

The Cerrado is, today, the Brazilian biome cleared more quickly. In just one year, between 2008 and 2009, lt lost 5.6 thousand km2. In total, have already been deforested 957.7 thousand km2 of its original area. Fires and deforestation are connected directly. Between July and mid-September peak of dry season and burning, the Cerrado was the most burned of Brazilian biomes. In the map above, the orange colour represents the areas of Cerrado in central Brazil. The red dots are pockets of burning areas occurred between July and September. The north of Cerrado is a red blur area.
[This video (link below) shows, in Portuguese, how important the Cerrado is for Brazil:
http://db.tt/gVpCjodt]

A VERY IMPORTANT MEASURE FAVOURING FOOD PRODUCTION

[Reported from BBC]

The European Parliament has backed proposals to limit the amount of food crops used to produce biofuel.

MEPs say "first-generation" biofuels - from crops like corn - should not exceed 6% of fuel used in transport by 2020, amending the target from 10%.

They want "advanced biofuels" - sourced from seaweed or certain types of waste - to make up at least 2.5%.

Biofuels have been seen as a way to cut fossil fuel use, but using food crops can displace food production.

MEPs vote by 356 votes to 327 to support a legislative report by Corinne Lepage, a French liberal MEP, which puts a limit on the proportion of food-based biofuels that should make up the fuel mix.
It is the parliament's contribution to the new EU policy on biofuels announced by the European Commission last October.
The EU is negotiating changes to the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive and the 1998 Fuel Quality Directive.

Before becoming law, the proposals still have to be agreed with the 28 member states' governments, represented in the EU Council.

Much negotiation still lies ahead, amid intense lobbying by biofuel industry groups and environmentalists.

Land use dispute
The MEPs' target is slightly higher than the 5% cap proposed by the Commission - and there has been fierce argument among MEPs about the level at which to set the cap.
Ms Lepage's report argues that public subsidies for food-based biofuels in the EU encourage their cultivation on land that could otherwise be used for food production.

According to the environmental group Greenpeace, the US already uses 40% of its corn for ethanol, and in the EU more than 60% of rapeseed is used for biofuels.

Some studies suggest that continuing with the current level of EU incentives for food-based biofuels would actually cancel out the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by switching to biofuels.

Clearing land to plant food for biofuel releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) through ploughing and can involve deforestation, which reduces the "carbon sinks" - the trees that absorb CO2.
The EU's Joint Research Centre has calculated that scrapping the current biofuel incentives could lower the price of vegetable oil in the EU by 48% by 2020.

Ms Lepage's report also warns of the social impact of such biofuel cultivation - known as "indirect land use change (ILUC)".
"The indirect land use change effects are not only environmental but also social, and are placing additional pressure on land use, particularly in developing countries, which is having a negative impact on the food security of local people, in particular women," her report says.

The European Renewable Ethanol Association (ePURE) has rejected the suggestion that biofuel crops are putting too much pressure on food production. It also argues that the impact of biofuels on food prices has been greatly exaggerated.
BBC © 2013

PIED TAMARIN FROM AMAZON AT RISK OF EXTINCTION

[Reproduced from:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_tamarin
and
http://www.oeco.org.br/fauna-e-flora/27556-fauna-amazonica-em-risco-o-sauim-de-coleira]

This New World monkey is found within and just north of the city limits of Manaus, the capital of the Amazonas state of Brazil. The main distribution is in the rio Cuieiras and rio Preto da Eva interfluvium. Pied tamarins are also found in the adjacent rio Preto da Eva and rio Urubu interfluvium, but are comparatively rare. There appears to be interspecific competition between the pied tamarin and the red-handed tamarin with the red-handed tamarin gradually displacing the pied tamarin from areas of its historical distribution. There are therefore multiple threats to the long term survival of the pied tamarin that stem from habitat destruction and from interspecific competition.

The pied tamarin's body measures 20.8–28.3 cm.; including the tail it measures 33.5–42.0 cm. Males weigh 428 grams (n = 4). Its life expectancy is approximately 10 years in the wild.

The Sanguinus bicolor lives in family groups of 2 to 15 individuals, with little domestic competition. Only the alpha female of the group will have puppies. The reproduction of other females is pbehaviorally suppressed. However, the whole group help with the care of young people, serving as a template for learn to hunt and feed.Omnivore, pied tamarin's diet consists of fruit, flowers, nectar, insects, spiders, small vertebrates and bird eggs.

Threats to the species ' long-term survival are manifold and deriving mainly from habitat destruction and inter-species competition. With the disordered growth of the city of Manaus in recent years the forest has been felled uncontrolled manner. Deforestation and fragmentation drastically reduce the areas of housing and feeding of the animal.

PESTICIDES MAY DECIMATE AMPHIBIANS: NEWS FROM TWO SOURCES

[Reproduced from www.usgs.org]

Pesticides Found in Amphibians from Remote Areas in California

A Pacific Chorus frog in meadow located in Yosemite National Park. Photo credit: Devin Edmonds, USGS
(Larger version)

Amphibians from remote locations in California have accumulated several current-use pesticides, including fungicides, in their bodies. A team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists recently reported on field results in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Two fungicides, pyraclostrobin and tebuconazole, and the herbicide simazine were detected frequently in amphibians from all sites sampled. The USGS study is the first to document the occurrence of these fungicides in amphibians and one of the first studies to measure fungicides in tissue.

Frog populations are declining worldwide and pesticides are thought to be one of the contributing causes, acting singly or in combination with other stressors. Not much is known about the exposure of frogs to pesticides, especially in remote areas (areas away from where pesticides are applied). The scientists looked at pesticides in Pacific Chorus frogs (Pseudacris regilla) and their habitat (water and sediment) in seven remote, high-elevation locations in California (including Giant Sequoia National Monument, Yosemite National Park, and Lassen Volcanic National Park). Chorus frogs were studied because they are found in a broad geographic area, they are still relatively abundant, and USGS scientists have been investigating their decline for over a decade. Fungicides (pesticides used to control fungal diseases) were found in adult male frogs from all sites. The sites sampled were downwind of California’s Central Valley; a potential cause of exposure may be from pesticides transported to these locations via precipitation and dust. Data generated from this study indicate that amphibians residing in these remote locations are exposed to and capable of taking up current-use pesticides.

This study was funded by the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, and Wildlife: Terrestrial and Endangered Resources Program.

USGS scientist collecting water samples from an amphibian monitoring site in Livermore, California. Photo credit: James Orlando, USGS
(Larger version)

References

Smalling, K.L., Fellers, G.M., Kleeman, P.M., and Kuivila, K.M., 2013, Accumulation of pesticides in Pacific Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris regilla) from California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, USA: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, v. 32, no. 9, p. 2026-2034, doi:10.1002/etc.2308 (public access pdf file — — journal Web page).

[Reproduced from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/24/pesticides-kill-frogs-within-hour]

Common pesticides 'can kill frogs within an hour'

New research suggests the chemicals are playing a significant and previously unknown role in the global decline of amphibians

A red-eyed treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas): more than one-third of all amphibians endangered. Photograph: Peter Lilja/Getty Images

1. Damian Carrington
2. View all120comments

Widely used pesticides can kill frogs within an hour, new research has revealed, suggesting the chemicals are playing a significant and previously unknown role in the catastrophic global decline of amphibians.

The scientists behind the study said it was both "astonishing" and "alarming" that common pesticides could be so toxic at the doses approved by regulatory authorities, adding to growing criticism of how pesticides are tested.